India vs China Highlights, Men's Hockey Asia Cup 2025: Harmanpreet's hat-trick helps India make winning start

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The Indian men’s hockey team is gearing up to begin their campaign at the Men’s Hockey Asia Cup 2025, on home soil in Rajgir, Bihar from 29th August to 7th September. After last winning the tournament in 2017, India will look to reclaim the continental crown and also secure direct qualification for the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup.

The Men’s Hockey Asia Cup 2025 has been one of the most prestigious events in Asian hockey with defending champions South Korea being the most successful team with five titles, while India runs second with three.

In the last edition India finished third as it drew its Semi-Final game against South Korea who went ahead on a better goal difference.

India are drawn in Pool A alongside China, Japan and Kazakhstan. The team will open their campaign against China on 29th August, followed by a clash against Japan on 31st August before concluding the group stage against Kazakhstan on 1st September.

Pool B consists of South Korea, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Indonesia. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the Super 4s and the winner will earn automatic World Cup qualification.

Also Read: Men’s Hockey Asia Cup 2025: Updated schedule, fixtures, results, live streaming details

India is coming into the tournament after a disappointing FIH Pro League European Leg, however, being the highest ranked Asian country (7th) in the world and playing in front of home crowd, India are a serious contender for the title.

Speaking about the team’s preparations, Coach Craig Fulton said, “Our preparation has been thorough. The camp in Perth gave us the right intensity, with tough training sessions and competitive matches that sharpened both our physical and tactical readiness. The group is training and playing  with real purpose and we feel ready for the challenge ahead.”

When asked about the team’s expectations, he responded, “Our expectation is very clear, to win the Asia Cup and secure qualification for the World Cup. That is our main goal.

“We know it will be a tough competition with quality opposition, but we believe in the work we’ve done and in the strength of this squad. If we play to our standards, stay consistent, and execute well, we can achieve what we set out to do.”

Also Read: Top five players to watch out for at Men’s Hockey Asia Cup 2025

Captain Harmanpreet Singh spoke on similar lines and stated, “The preparations have been good. We achieved a lot in the camp and have done a lot of work as a team. Even our recent tour in Australia has been very useful for us because Asian teams too play man-to-man in a similar way to the Aussies.”

“Any opponent we play, we view them as a strong team and I believe all the teams participating are good. Our mindset is to make sure that we play smartly, maintain our structure and do our best. This is the energy in the dressing room and this is our plan,” he concluded.

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